


Who Framed Tadashi Hamada?

by bonniepride



Series: Toon Town AU [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Frozen (2013)
Genre: Cartoon Characters in the real world, F/F, M/M, Toon Town, Who Framed Roger Rabbit - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 05:52:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8832910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonniepride/pseuds/bonniepride
Summary: In a world where cartoon characters come to life and act in their own films, Tadashi is lucky enough to be one of the stars of the new movie "Big Hero 6". But when he ends up falling for a character he isn't scripted to be in love with, he finds himself in danger of being wiped out for daring to defy his creators and follow his heart.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So, this AU was inspired by my best friend, TheNightFury--we both love the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" (if you haven't seen it, go watch it, it's amazing!) and we wondered what would happen in this world if things continued in modern day, and what could be more fun then throwing the whole cast of Big Hero 6 into it? :D Admittedly I took a lot of creative liberties to explain things that weren't explained in the movie, but I had a lot of fun with the world building and I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I had fun writing it!

How are toons born? Most aren’t born in the traditional way, where a mother and a father--well, you know. Unless of course, you don’t, in which case keep believing what they told you about the storks, kiddo. Anyways, where were we? Ah, yes, the birth of toons. By design, most toons come about because some artist thought of and created them. While it is possible for toons to reproduce naturally, it can only happen when their artist or the artist who has taken responsibility for them so deigns to allow it to happen to expand a story cast or add in a plot twist. But for the most part, a toon comes into existence when an artist finally puts down their pen--or, with more modern cartoons, computer mouse or stylus--and says to themselves, “There. This is a completed character.” And then, by whatever sort of magic or deus-ex-machina that brings the toon to life (no one has fully figured out how this phenomena began and most would rather not question it), the toon appears in the real world, ready to serve their purpose. Of course, their purpose might only to be to serve as a character in one film or short, in which case it might seem like, after they fulfilled their original purpose, their lives would become meaningless. But no. Toons who do not become stars usually go on to live full and happy lives either in the human world around them or in the many toon communities around the world. But that’s a story for another time. Our story today begins with the “birth” of a very special character named Tadashi Hamada and how he went on to redefine exactly what it meant to be a toon.

Tadashi was born on January 20, 2013, at 5:45 in the afternoon. When, where, and how exactly a toon finally came into existence was a bit of a random process--sometimes they showed up in the middle of the most unexpected and sometimes most inconvenient situations. But this was the Disney animation studios, and after all those years and the countless characters they had churned out, aside from a few more mischievous characters who wanted to make a more memorable entrance, there was a special room set aside in a secluded area of the animation building (although not too far from the artists’ work areas) that the studios had set aside for their characters to “appear” in. When the room had first been thought of, they hadn’t even known if it would work, but apparently whatever forces were responsible for the bringing about of characters had appreciated their efforts to make the process more organized and manageable and, for quite some time now, the majority of the toons arrived in this room on the cot that had been helpfully provided for them.

It was on this cot that Tadashi awoke for the first time. It’s hard for a human to understand exactly what it’s like for a toon when they first open their eyes and take their first breaths in the real world. Human babies come into the world with no memories or knowledge of the world around them except basic survival instincts and knowing what the past nine months in their mother’s womb were like. Toons, however, have a rather different experience--unless, of course, their character was drawn as a baby, in which case there actually isn’t a terrible amount of difference. For those who are drawn any older, they come into being with the general worldly knowledge and common sense that their character would have at the age they were designed to be. Beyond that, while they instinctively know that they have no actual memories as of yet, those who are designed to play a specific role come into being with the same memories that their character would have. This sometimes results in a bit of dysphoria to begin with, trying to compensate between their “experiences” in their story world and the “real” world that they have just arrived in. Some characters have an extremely hard time coming to terms with this (a good example, although staged, was Buzz Lightyear in  _ Toy Story _ thinking that he was an actual space ranger instead of a toy), and some never fully came to terms with it, living in denial. Most, though, whether out of necessity or by design, manage to make their peace with it relatively soon after their “births” and are able to move on to fulfilling their intended purpose. Such was the case for Tadashi. 

When Tadashi’s eyes flicker open, he finds himself lying down on something that was soft and flat--assumedly a bed, although as he was just gaining consciousness for the first time, he was a little groggy and not quite sure of his senses. Something told him, though, to take it slow as he sits up to take in his surroundings, and he listens to that instinct (a good thing, too, as many toons who sat up too quickly for the first time in this room were forced to spend their first few minutes of existence experiencing major vertigo.) Moving carefully, he pulls himself into a partially upright position on what turned out to indeed be a bed, much like ones that were used in doctors’ offices, before slowly rotating his body until his legs were hanging over the side of the cot. He dazedly takes in his surroundings as the fog in his brain gradually begins to drift away, and he realizes that the rest of the room, with its soft gray walls and nondescript cabinets, also looked much like a doctor’s office. For a full minute he wonders if he’d been sick and Aunt Cass had taken to the hospital. But then the fog fully clears and the truth comes to him. He was a toon--a character designed by an artist he only vaguely remembered, or perhaps a team of artists--and this must be his “awakening”. It was a bit of an odd feeling, and one that might have frightened him more if his toon instincts hadn’t quickly kicked in to remind him that this was his purpose and there really was nothing to be afraid of. Beyond that, he knew that he wasn’t alone--or, at least, wouldn’t be for long if he was. His friends and family would appear as well as soon as their artists were finished with them (which explained why his exact memories of the “other” world were slightly blurry at the moment, given it hadn’t been completed yet) and so it was only a matter of time before he was “reunited” with them (although in truth they wouldn’t have officially met before, but that was a matter that would be shortly rectified.)

Tadashi was just beginning to examine his own body, carefully testing out his arms and legs and making sure that everything was in working order, when suddenly there’s a soft tapping on the door. Not sure who exactly it was (there was a small glass window in the door, but either his unexpected visitor was standing to the side of it or was too short to be seen through it) but only able to assume it would be someone friendly given he couldn’t think of any potential enemies he might have (even the villain in his story didn’t hold an actual grudge against him in particular--in fact, they seemed to be fairly close prior to the fire that was supposed to bring about his character’s “death”--thank goodness that was only a part of the script, not something that was actually going to happen to him!), he calls out, “Come in!” His voice came out slightly hoarse-sounding, as if he hadn’t used it in a while (although the truth was that he’d just never had a chance to use it before), but apparently whoever was on the other side of the door found the words distinguishable as the door handle immediately turn and only moments later the door opens a crack. 

The teenage boy in front of him was both familiar and a stranger to him at the same time. Familiar in that he knew the shaggy, raven haired boy who shared his own soft brown, almond-shaped eyes from his character memories. He was a stranger, though, in that they had never actually met before on this side of reality--wow, that was a brain trip waiting to happen.

“Hiro?” Tadashi says uncertainly, wanting to make sure that he wasn’t mistaking the boy for someone he wasn’t.The grin that immediately crossed the teen’s face was enough to confirm that he had identified him correctly.

“Tadashi!” Hiro says, eagerly crossing the room to him and, without even asking permission, pulling himself up onto the cot to sit next to the other man. Not that Tadashi minded--even though this was technically their first time meeting, the instant he looked into those almost puppy-esque eyes and saw that adorable gap-toothed smile, he could almost feel it like a hook in his chest that he was already completely and utterly wrapped around his brother’s little finger and that he would do literally anything for him. It was odd to know that he had become so automatically devoted to a boy he’d technically just met. But Hiro wasn’t acting like they were strangers at all--he was apparently counting his character memories as being as good as real ones, and, if that’s how his little brother wanted it, then so would Tadashi.

“It took you long enough to get here!” Hiro says with a slight smile, bouncing lightly up and down on the bed and startling the other man out of his thoughts. “I swear, those artists were taking  _ forever _ to finish, it was almost physically painful watching them make sure that every tiny hair was exactly in place--like, c’mon, have they never heard of a hair brush, would it really matter if one strand was slightly sticking up when it could be so easily fixed?” He lets out an over-dramatic sigh, flopping across Tadashi’s lap with an arm across his forehead like he’d fainted, earning him an involuntary chuckle from the older man.

“Then of course I had to wait once they were finally done for you to actually show up! I mean, sheesh, did you stop for coffee on the way or something?” Hiro continues, apparently enjoying his brother’s reaction to his antics and so deciding to continue with them. “I’ve been waiting out there for  _ forever _ for you to finally appear!”

“Forever?” Tadashi asks, quirking an amused eyebrow. 

“Well, all right, fine, a few hours,” Hiro admits. “But it  _ felt _ like forever, at least!” 

“You couldn’t think of anything to do to keep yourself entertained with that big brain of yours?” Tadashi asks, lovingly ruffling the teens hair--the words felt somehow both strange and familiar in his mouth, as if even though they’d never actually passed his lips before they were something he’d become accustomed to saying after years of use. 

“Well, I could have,” Hiro answers, finally sitting back up. “But I was trying to watch through the window so I’d know the minute you got here! Of course, you would choose the moment I finally took a break from watching to grab a cup of cocoa to show up--shame on you!” He lightly whacks his older brother’s arm.

“My apologies, I swear it wasn’t intentional,” Tadashi laughs, smiling down at his younger sibling and, unable to resist the impulse, pulls him into a warm bear hug.

Hiro didn’t seem to mind the contact, contentedly nuzzling into his chest with a happy sigh that practically melted the older man’s heart before saying in a conspiratorial whisper, “Technically I’m not supposed to be in here. I was supposed to go get the toon doctor when I saw you show up so that he could check you over, and  _ then _ I’d be allowed to come in and meet you. But…”

“But of course you didn’t listen to instructions and decided to take matters into your own hands,” Tadashi answers, knowing that he probably should be scolding his younger sibling but finding the sentiment that his brother couldn’t wait even a second longer than was necessary to meet him too adorable to feel any actual disapproval.

“Exactly!” Hiro agrees, grinning up at him. 

“Knucklehead,” Tadashi says fondly, smiling back down at him. “Tell you what--I won’t tell on you as long as you go do what you’re actually supposed to do, okay?”

“But nii-chan!” Hiro’s expression instantly morphs into that of a kicked puppy. “I want to stay here with you! Don’t you want to spend time with your otouto?”

“Of course I do!” Tadashi cries, instantly feeling intense guilt at having potentially hurt his brother’s feelings and pulling the boy closer. “I just don’t want you to get into trouble on my account!”

“Like I care about trouble!” Hiro says breezily, instantly back to his old cheery self, if looking a bit smug.

_ Damn this kid is good, _ Tadashi thinks wryly to himself. 

“All right,” he finally agrees. “Just don’t expect me to cover for you when the doctor does finally get here!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” Hiro answers with a grin.

Tadashi should have known better than to trust the manipulative (although undeniably adorable) little troublemaker that his brother was turning out to be. When the doctor finally arrived to find Hiro already inside the room instead of having come to get him the minute that he’d seen his brother arrive, Tadashi found himself lying about having been rather disoriented when he’d woken up in the room and starting to cry out for his family, leaving Hiro to feel that he had no other choice but to hurry in to comfort his older sibling. Wow--he’d been “alive” barely fifteen minutes and he was already lying to keep his brother out of trouble. This did not set a very optimistic precedent for hoping that he was going to be a responsible nii-chan who made sure that his otouto actually learned that there were consequences to his actions. It made him feel slightly better when it was later explained to him that that was just a part of his character’s design, although he still felt responsible for his own actions.

After the doctor had looked him over and declared him healthy and complete (it was extremely rare, but sometimes an artist would accidentally leave a gap or unfinished part on a character which resulted in some understandable problems when they transferred over to the real world), Tadashi was taken to meet his director and the creative team who had been responsible for creating him. All of them were extremely kind and friendly, and, with Hiro by his side,Tadashi was beginning to feel more and more comfortable with settling into his new existence. After all of the initial introductions were taken care of, the siblings were taken to the cafeteria where, it was explained to Tadashi, they were going to be eating all of their meals for the time being (Hiro informed him that the food wasn’t quite as good as Aunt Cass’, but still pretty good.) Dinner was a bit of an awkward affair as everyone seemed interested in the newly arrived toon and it felt like half the commissary was staring at him. Still, fortunately sensing the newcomer’s discomfort and remembering their own arrivals not too long ago, the stars of the studio’s currently upcoming movie,  _ Frozen _ , invited the boys to sit with them Apparently Hiro and one of the two princesses from the film, Anna, had already become close friends, as they started chatting away a mile a minute the instant the younger boy sat down. As far as Tadashi could tell, the two were partners in mischief, something he was going to have to keep an eye on. For his part, he ended of finding he had a lot in common with the older sister, Elsa.

“Crazy first day?” she asks, flashing him a sympathetic smile as she pats the seat next to her, signaling for him to join her.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Tadashi admits, smiling gratefully back as he takes the indicated chair. 

“It’s always a little bit disconcerting to begin with, but it does get better,” Elsa says reassuringly. “But don’t worry, you’ll get used to it pretty soon. And it definitely gets better as you go along.”

“Really?” Tadashi asks, grateful to hear that from a toon who had been around for longer than his own younger sibling had been (not that he didn’t trust his brother, but the teen wasn’t much more experienced than he was.)

“Definitely,” Elsa agrees with a firm nod, blowing onto her soup to cool it. “It takes a little bit to get oriented, but especially once the rest of your cast shows up and they finish writing your script, it begins to feel a lot more like home here.”

“So… Do we stay here at the studios indefinitely?” Tadashi asks, uncertain as to how all of this was going to work.

“Not indefinitely, no,” Elsa reassures him. “They give you apartments to live in on-site while your movie is being produced, and maybe for a little while after as well for promotionals--or, at least that’s what I was told. After that, usually you’re allowed to move wherever you want, provided that the studio can still get ahold of you in case they need you for more promotional stuff or for a sequel or something like that. A lot of times they’ll have the characters do a short stint in the parks and cruise line so that their fans can meet them before replacing the toons with human actors--they won’t hold us to it indefinitely unless we want to be there. Thank goodness for all of Toon civil rights movements that happened in the early 2000’s, right?”

“Wow...” Tadashi says softly, partly relieved that he wasn’t stuck with this indefinitely, partly nervous at the idea of being out there in the real world without really know what to do with himself.

“Mm,” Elsa agrees. Noticing his apparent anxiety, she adds, “Don’t worry--the studio would never just ‘drop’ a character, no matter how major or minor. For those who want to go on to pursue a more ‘normal’ life, the studios help them find housing and employment, and they do a good job of keeping tabs to make sure that everything’s still going smoothly for them.”

“Really?” Tadashi asks, feeling some of his anxiety ebb away.

“Definitely,” Elsa says, giving him another one of her warm smiles. Tadashi smiles back, feeling like maybe he’d just maybe made his first real friend outside of his movie cast, only for the moment to be interrupted by very loud and slightly obnoxious laughter coming from the end of the table where Hiro and Anna were apparently cracking up over something one of them had said--it appeared that Anna might have even snorted soup up her nose.

“Siblings,” Tadashi and Elsa sigh at the same time, looking at each other in surprise before finding themselves laughing as well. After that, the elder Hamada found the slight tightness that had been in his chest since he’d woken up that afternoon loosening. Maybe there were still a lot of unknowns, but, no matter what, at least he knew that everything was going to turn out okay and that he wasn’t alone in this.

“Night Dashi,” Hiro whispers later that night from his bed that was across the room from Tadashi’s--for the time being, at least, the brother’s were sharing a room, something that Tadashi didn’t mind in the slightest given it was comforting knowing that his sibling was close enough that he could reach across the gap between their beds and have the physical reassurance that his little brother was there and that he wasn’t alone.

“Good night, Hiro,” Tadashi whispers back, smiling warmly over at his younger sibling before allowing himself to drift off into a peaceful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Over the next couple of months, one by one, the major characters for the film arrived. It was explained to Tadashi that, instead of creating an entire city full of people, most of the crowds and minor characters would either be added in digitally or else played by human actors with a filter put over them to make them appear like they were animated characters. It was slightly disappointing to find out that most of San Fransokyo would also be created digitally and so the acting would take place primarily in front of a green screen or on sets of particular locations. Still, he could understand why it logically made sense--the studios couldn’t very well create an entire city every time they made a new movie, could they? Still, the fact that the family and friends he knew from his character memories were real (or, as real as toons could be) did make up a lot for it. The next arrival after him was Baymax, the healthcare robot that Tadashi, in the film, “created”. It was a little weird knowing that he hadn’t actually built the robot despite the fact that he instinctively knew exactly how every part of it worked, but it was just another one of those things that he was getting used to. Soon after Baymax was Aunt Cass, who the boys were more than happy to welcome into their family--it was nice for Tadashi feeling like he wasn’t the only one in a role of responsibility now. Following her was Professor Robert Callaghan and his daughter, Abigail. Despite the fact that the Professor was the one responsible for his “death” in the film, he was such a loving, fatherly man whom Tadashi’s character had had a very close relationship with that he couldn’t find it in him to dislike him or even be suspicious of him. Abigail was designed to be slightly older than Tadashi, but the two quickly hit it off, almost becoming like brother and sister (Elsa told him that that was often what happened among cast mates: they became one big, slightly crazy but still extremely loving extended family, even a lot of the villains, many of whom turned out not to be particularly villain-esque except when the were acting, instead proving to be very nice and sometimes even extremely interesting people to talk to!)

Then one day, about a month after his arrival, Tadashi was pulled into the director’s office.

“Am I in trouble?” he asks uncertainly, knowing that he’d been covering for a lot of Hiro’s recent stunts (the younger boy and Anna were constantly getting up to mischief whenever one of them had a spare moment.)

“No, not in trouble,” the director hurries to reassure him. “It’s good news, actually--something I’m sure that you’re going to be pretty excited about.”

“All right,” Tadashi agrees--that sounded a lot better than what he’d been expecting.

“I thought you should be the first to know--the artists are almost finished putting the finishing touches on Honey Lemon. If we’re lucky, they should be done in the next day or two!” the director informs him.

“Really? That’s great!” Tadashi says, grinning. It was always exciting to hear that another part of his character world was finally coming into being in the world he was currently existing in.

“I thought you’d be happy to hear that,” the director says with a warm smile. “I’ll bet you’re pretty excited to see your girlfriend!”

“W-wait… What?” Tadashi asks, blinking in surprise. Girlfriend...? Wait, were he and Honey Lemon dating? Why didn’t he remember that if they were? Maybe he had some memories of that, but if they were there, they weren’t anything he could solidly grasp hold of.

“Shocked speechless, eh?” The director chuckles fondly. “I would be too.” He adds in a playful tone, “Just remember, we’re trying to keep this studio PG and below, so if you two have anything you’re trying to get up to--make sure do it behind locked doors, all right?”

Tadashi felt his stomach turn slightly as the director playfully shoos him out of his office. Him and Honey Lemon… Doing inappropriate things together? He couldn’t even imagine it--hell, he couldn’t even imagine kissing her! His character memories of her were fond, sure, but he saw her like a little sister or a really close friend, not as someone he was romantically interested in! But if that’s how their characters were designed to interact--did that mean something was wrong with him if he didn’t feel that way about her? Feeling extremely worried, he decided that maybe he’d feel that way once he’d actually gotten to meet her in this world. Yes, that was it exactly! It was just going to take him a little bit to warm up to the idea, but if they were supposed to have true love--and considering this was a Disney movie, they were--then the moment they laid eyes on each other, he’d know that she was the one he was meant to be with.

Only it didn’t happen like that. To his silent horror, when Honey Lemon arrived the next day, the minute he walked into the room to meet her for the first time, he felt his stomach sinking like a stone. No, this was wrong--this was all so wrong. He didn’t love her, at least not like he was supposed to. Even as she squeals happily as she wraps him up in a hug, he can only hug her stiffly back, feeling nothing like he knew he was supposed to if true love was anything like he’d heard it was.

The rest of the afternoon passed in an almost nightmarish haze--as Honey Lemon’s “boyfriend” he was expected to show her around, to smile and act adorably embarrassed when everyone told him how cute of a couple they made, some even making slightly suggestive jokes that he could only fake laugh weakly in response to. It wasn’t that he thought Honey Lemon was a horrible person--on the contrary, she was extremely sweet and kind and he couldn’t figure out why exactly he didn’t feel the way he was supposed to about her. He just… Didn’t. There was no spark. There was no rush of happy emotions that came from holding her hand. There was just cold, empty dread at that the fact that he was supposed to be in love with and spend the rest of his life with this person but he didn’t. And there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

It was Elsa who realized the problem first. Over dinner, she seemed to be watching the new “couple” very closely, and when she went to go get a drink refill, she practically dragged the elder Hamada along with her.

“What is going on between you two?” she asks as soon as they’re out of hearing range of the others. 

“N-nothing!” Tadashi answers, jumping guiltily at the question.

“Exactly,” Elsa deadpans. “There is nothing going on between you, is there?” 

“I--All right, so maybe I’m not exactly feeling it right now,” Tadashi admits. “But I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before I--”

“Tadashi, no.” Elsa shakes her head firmly, putting a firm hand on his shoulder. “Look, I count you as one of my closest friends, and I’m going to be straight with you--if you don’t like her in that way, you can’t lie to her and everyone else! You need to tell her that you like her--if you do actually like her, which I think you do--but just as a friend and nothing more instead of dragging this out and ending up hurting both of you even more.”

“But it’s in my design--I’m supposed to be in love with her!” Tadashi says desperately. 

“I don’t give a damn about ‘designs’,” Esla snaps, surprising the other man as he’d never heard her curse before--it wasn’t something that was encouraged at the studios, and especially not by characters. “I care about my friend who’s about to make an extremely stupid decision!”

“Are you calling me ‘stupid’?” Tadashi bristles at that. It was another unfortunate design in his character--as much as he was supposed to be the perfect big brother, one of the flaws he’d been given to make him more “human” was that his character secretly felt slightly inferior to Hiro’s because his sibling was a natural genius and he had to work hard to come even close to his brother’s accomplishments. While Tadashi hardly ever felt that or even noticed that that was there, it was something of a sore spot that hit him unexpectedly in moments like this.

“Oh, Tadashi, no, I didn’t mean it like--!” Elsa says, her eyes going wide.

“Look, I will find a way to figure out how to make me and Honey Lemon to work, so just leave me alone, okay?” Tadashi snaps, his own fear and pain making him lash out in a way that he instantly regrets.

“...Fine.” Elsa gives him an icy stare that could only be pulled off by the snow queen herself. “Don’t take my advice. Just don’t come crying to me when everything starts falling apart.”

“I won’t,” Tadashi shoots back, still breathing heavily as she glides away, her anger evident in her short, mincing gait. Still, he shakes his head, forcing himself not to think about the encounter any more. He was Tadashi Hamada--he could fix anything, and certainly he could fix his relationship with his would-be girlfriend.

Only, over the next couple of weeks, it became evident that he couldn’t. He tried everything he could think of--spending more time with Honey, spending less time with her, trying to do romantic things for her like bringing her flowers, inviting her to come hang out with him and the others (Elsa still wasn’t talking to him after their falling out in the commissary, something he tried to tell himself that he didn’t mind near as much as he did.) But none of it worked. Things were only made more awkward when GoGo, Honey Lemon’s best friend in the movie, showed up. She seemed to sense Tadashi’s lack of romantic interest, and, instead of telling him to break it off, she almost aggressively started trying to push the two together, until it felt like Tadashi’s entire life was a living hell, being forced into a role that he had never wanted to play.

It wasn’t until the day that Fred arrived that Elsa’s prediction about Tadashi’s world falling apart came true. Everyone knew that Fred was supposed to arrive that day since the artists had just finished with him, and so they’d all been taking turns watching the door so that their newest cast member wouldn’t arrive all alone. It was Tadashi’s turn when he finally appeared. Tadashi had been pacing out in the little waiting area, for some reason feeling more anxious and excited about this arrival than he had about any other, although for the life of him he couldn’t understand why. Then, as he completed one final pass of the door, he saw a slight shimmer over the bed which caused him to pause. Wait, could it be--? A few moments later, a ghostly outline started to show, and then, a few moments after that, Fred’s solid form appeared on the bed. For some reason, Tadashi felt his chest tightening, even as his heart rate speeds up exponentially. He was... beautiful. Despite the fact that this particular character was supposed to come off as geeky and awkward, Tadashi thought he was the most perfect-looking toon that he’d ever seen, lying there so still and peaceful on the cot. A few seconds later, Fred’s eyes blink open, and he slowly sits up, looking slightly dazed but understanding slowly dawning on him. For some reason the sight made Tadashi let out a quiet whine, as if it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen. As if hearing the noise, Fred suddenly turned towards the door, and Tadashi felt his breath catch in his throat as their eyes met for the first time. It was then that the truth finally dawned on him. Despite all character designs and what he was “supposed” to do, he had just broken a major rule: he had fallen for the wrong character.

The rest of that afternoon, much like on the day that he’d met Honey Lemon, passed in a blur, but this time a very different blur. He was alternating between the horror of what he’d done and the giddy feelings that he had been supposed to feel when he’d met his assigned girlfriend. Every time Fred looked his way and smiled at him, every time they accidentally brushed up against each other, butterflies filled Tadashi’s stomach, and it was all he could do not to completely melt. If his character had been like that of most of the original cartoons, not the more realistic style that Disney had started going with, there definitely would have been little hearts floating all around his head. As it was, Honey Lemon kept telling him how sweet it was that he was going out of his was to make Fred feel so welcome, and that only served to make him feel even guiltier than he already was. He was supposed to be dating her, and yet his heart belonged to the person she probably least saw as a threat to what was, on Tadashi’s side, a sham of a relationship.

Finally, unable to handle it any longer, Tadashi turned to the one person he’d told himself he would never go to. 

“Elsa,” he says, laying a tentative hand on the woman’s arm--she’d taken to sitting as far away from Tadashi as possible, refusing to talk to him or even look at him.

When she doesn’t respond, literally giving him the cold shoulder (he could feel her silent rage emanating off of her in waves of freezing air), he tries again. “Elsa, please--I’m really, really sorry for everything I said. I was being an idiot. But I really, really need your help, and I have no one else to go to. So I understand if you’re still mad, and I’ll accept all the blame for that, but please, I beg of you, help me out this once and I won’t bother you ever again!”

For a minute Elsa continues to stare stone facedly down at her plate, but finally she lets out a long sigh and says, “Always the one for dramatics, weren’t you, Tadashi?”

Relief floods through the man’s chest. “Y-You’ll help me?” he asks, not daring to believe it.

“Yes, I’ll help you,” Elsa says, rolling her eyes as she turns around. “But only because I don’t want to see my idiot friend getting himself hurt because he tries to ‘fix’ things on his own, and we’ve all seen how well he does at that.”

“Thank you!” Tadashi instantly pulls her into a tight hug. “You have no idea how much I appreciate--”

“Yes, yes.” Elsa waves his words aside, pulling away from him. “I have your eternal gratitude, etc, etc.” She takes his hand and starts leading him towards the doors of the cafeteria. “Now come on, let’s go fix your ‘Earth shattering’ problem.”

Little did they notice that someone was watching as they left and, as soon as no one else was looking, stood up and followed them out of the commissary.

“All right, so, have you finally got it through your thick head that you’re not in love with your supposed girlfriend?” Elsa asks, folding her arms over her chest as soon as she pulls Tadashi into an empty office.

“Worse,” Tadashi sighs, running his fingers distractedly through his hair and making it stand up on end, although the ice queen chose not to comment on that fact. “I--I actually found out that I like someone else…”

“Wait, really?” Elsa’s eyes go wide with surprise. “Who? Oh… Oh no. Tadashi, if this is your way of trying to say that you have a crush on me, I appreciate that, but I really don’t--”

“What? No!” Tadashi cries. He quickly amends, “Not that I don’t think you’re amazing and all of that! But I just see you as a really good friend or a sister!”

“Okay, good, glad we’ve cleared that up,” Elsa sighs, looking relieved, and then curious. “So, if it’s not Honey Lemon, and it’s not me… Is it GoGo?”

“No, it’s definitely not GoGo--I don’t think she even likes me very much because she can tell that I’m not into HL and she thinks I should be.”

“All right then, Abigail? Because she’s a bit old for you, but if you really feel that way about her--”

“Gosh, no! I mean, again, she’s awesome, but I’m just not interested in her like that. Actually… The truth is, I don’t think I’m interested in girls at all…”

“Hold on…” Elsa’s eyes narrow suspiciously. “A-are you trying to tell me that you’re gay?”

“I… Yes, I think that I’m definitely gay,” Tadashi sighs.

“I… Tadashi, I have absolutely nothing against that personally,” Elsa says uncertainly. “I’m a very strong believer that love is love and all that. But--this is Disney. You know that they have a major thing about protecting their image, and while they’ve certainly made some major progress lately, I don’t think that they’d let one of their characters in a major movie be openly gay…” 

“You know that you’re not making this any easier, right?”

“All right, you’re right, I’m sorry. I guess I should have honestly seen it coming from the way you stare at Hans sometimes.”

“I do not stare at Hans!”

“Yes, you do. But please tell me that you’re not crushing on him, because if you do, I will slap you until you see sense.”

“No, it’s not him--and yeesh, you’re worried about Disney being mad about me being gay when one of their princesses apparently has a penchant for violence?”

“I was originally slated to be a villain, so sue me!”

“...Wait, are you being serious right now?”

“A discussion for another time.” Elsa waves off his question. “Now stop beating around the bush already and tell me who the lucky guy is!”

“I… Okay. Please don’t laugh, but it… It’s Fred…”

“Fred?” Elsa looks momentarily confused before asking, “Wait, you mean  _ Fred _ , as in the guy who just appeared today?” 

“Yes, him,” Tadashi agrees, feeling his cheeks turning bright red under her stare. 

“Well… As much as it’s out of my character to be okay with someone thinking they’re in love with someone they just met, how close were your characters in your world?” Elsa asks after taking a moment to think it over.

“For one thing, I did not say that I’m in love with him, just that I like him… Like, a lot,” Tadashi says, blushing even deeper red.

“Mm hm, sure…” Elsa drawls, rolling her eyes slightly. “But you haven’t answered my question.”

“All right, um… They haven’t finished the script yet, but… Pretty close? Possibly even best friends--like, my character’s pretty much the only one in the script who not only puts up with but seems to slightly enjoy a lot of his crazier antics?” Tadashi answers, trying to go off of the completed memories that he had.

“I see…” Elsa nods her head slowly. “Friendship is a good foundation for a further relationship, from what I’ve heard, so I can approve of that. How about Fred, does he seem to feel the same way about you?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really had much of a chance to talk to him yet,” Tadashi admits, letting out a low sigh. “But before I could even think about doing something like that, I feel like I need to talk to Honey Lemon. Even if I’ve never really felt anything for her beyond a friendship or sibling-like connection, technically we’re supposed to be dating, and I don’t want to be cheating on her, even if I’m not sure we were ever officially ‘together’....”

“Well, even if I’m not sure about what’s going on between you and Fred, yes, I am definitely all for you finally being honest with Honey,” Elsa says, nodding her head in approval. “She deserves that much, and so do you. Keeping both of you tied down to a relationship where even one of you is unhappy isn’t fair to either of you, and the sooner you do this, the better.”

“I know,” Tadashi sighs. “And I feel horrible now that I pushed it off this long--I feel like I’ve been stringing her along and that it’s going to be all that more painful for her once I tell her. I won’t blame her if she’s super mad at me, I’ll deserve it…”

“But it will be better than living a lie,” Elsa puts in gently. “And she’ll be better off for it in the end because she’ll be able to find someone who does like her like that.”

“Exactly,” Tadashi agrees. “I just… I don’t know how I’m supposed to tell her…”

“Would it make you feel better to know that I already knew?”

Tadashi jumps guiltily as he turns to see Honey Lemon standing in the doorway to the office.

“Honey, I…” he starts but then falls silent, not sure what he was supposed to say. “I’m so, so sorry,” he finally manages to get out.

“Oh, Tadashi.” Honey Lemon gives him a warm smile, coming over to the couch and sitting down next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I already knew that you weren’t in love with me--I could tell it from the first day when every time someone told us that we were a cute couple you looked like someone had just told you that Mochi had just gotten ran over by a car.” 

“I… You knew?” Tadashi gasps in disbelief. “But then why--?”

“I was honestly doing the same thing as you,” Honey Lemon admits with an embarrassed smile. “Trying to act like someone I wasn’t. The truth is that I’ve never really been interested in you as anything more than a really good friend either. But since it’s what the scriptwriters wanted, I wanted to give it a try, but I think we both found out that forcing a romance just doesn’t work.”

“So… You’re not mad at me?” Tadashi asks slowly, barely believing what he was hearing.

“Of course not!” Honey Lemon reassures him, pulling him into a warm hug. “I heard what you were telling Elsa, and it was really, really sweet of you to try for my sake and you were nothing but faithful, as much as you could help it. But I’m really glad to hear that you were going to be honest with me, and even if I did like you… y’know romantically--which I don’t!--then I would have rather heard the truth and hurt slightly then have had you lie about liking me and ending up making both of us unhappy. I think it’s braver to tell the truth and do the right thing than to lie just to try to save someone else’s feelings.”

“You are amazing, you know that?” Tadashi says, gratefully hugging her back.

“Aw, that’s so sweet of you!” Honey Lemon giggles before pulling away and asking eagerly, “Sooo… When are you going to tell Fred how you feel about him?”

“I… I don’t know,” Tadashi admits, flushing slightly. “I mean, I don’t even know if he likes me back or not…”

“Ooh, trust me--from the way that he’s been looking at you all day, he  _ definitely _ likes you!” Honey Lemon says, beaming.

“Y-you really think so?” Tadashi asks, trying not to get his hopes up.

“Totally!” Honey Lemon agrees, eagerly squeezing his hands. “A~And… I’m not going to lie, this kind of makes things easier for me because… I have a crush on GoGo!”

“Wait, you’re serious?” Tadashi cries after taking a moment for that to set in. “Oh my gosh, Honey, that’s so great! I’m so happy for you! But… Wait, wasn’t she pushing for us to get together…?” 

He winces, hating to think that Honey’s crush was unrequited, but the feisty Latina quickly waves away his concerns. “That was only because she thought I was supposed to be interested in you! But I could tell that the reason she was being so hard on you was because she thought that she would be doing a much better job of it herself!”

“So… You’re saying that she was trying to get us together because she actually likes you?”

“ _ Exactamente _ !” 

“...I can’t say I understand it, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“A wise decision,” Honey Lemon laughs. “But isn’t this so great? We both like someone else, so we can both be happy!”

“This is pretty great!” Tadashi agrees, finding himself grinning as the truth finally dawns on him.

“Hold on just a second.” Elsa’s stern voice suddenly cuts into their conversation, slightly chilling the celebratory mood. “As happy as I am for both of you… I hate to say it, but the studio isn’t going to be happy about this. Characters going off script, choosing different romantic partners than they’re supposed to be with? I mean, it wouldn’t be such a big deal, except for the fact that both of you are trying to pursue relationships with members of the same sex!”

“So?” Honey Lemon shrugs slightly. “ _ El amor es el amor, no _ ?”

“Maybe out in the real world, but not here at Disney! They have a reputation to protect, and if they think something is going to upset a large portion of their audience and possibly lose them profits…” Elsa says firmly, shaking her head.

“But didn’t they just release that episode on that show… Um,  _ Goodbye Charlie _ , or something, where there was a lesbian couple?” Honey Lemon points out.

Tadashi looks over at her, impressed--apparently she’d been doing her homework.

“True…” Elsa says, biting her lip thoughtfully before shaking her head. “But they got a major backlash for that, and I’m not sure they’re ready for something like that to happen in one of their feature films yet.”

“All right,  _ entiendo _ ,” Honey Lemon says, nodding. “But who has to say it has to be a part of the movie?”

“What do you mean?” Elsa asks, her brow furrowing in confusion. 

“Who says that we have to show the audience anything that they wouldn’t be okay with?” Honey Lemon responds. “On screen, Tadashi and I could act like a couple--actors do that all the time,  _ no _ ? But off screen, we can date whoever we want!”

“That’s true!” Tadashi agrees, grinning.”Good thinking, Honey Lemon!”

“Wait, wait, wait--it’s still not that simple!” Elsa cries, shaking her head. “It’s different for toons than for human actors and actresses. A toon is expected to follow their characterization, even off screen. And with all of the promotional stuff following the film--”

“Well then it’s about time someone changed that!” Honey Lemon declares firmly. “ _ La  _ _ revolución de toons _ !” 

“A revolution? Do you know what you’re asking for?” Elsa cries in disbelief. “Do you know what they might do if they thought that we--”

“Hold on!” Tadashi says, coming between the two of them. “First things first--we don’t even know if either of us are going to end up in a homosexual relationship to begin with. If and when that happens, I think that, provided no one says anything about it and we keep it mainly on the down low, then we don’t turn it into a big deal. We fulfill our duties, but I don’t think there’s much they can do to us if we keep everything else strictly off the book. If they do have a problem with it, then… Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Neither of the two women seem extremely thrilled with this compromise, but they both finally nod in agreement. 

“Just be careful,” Elsa says warningly as she heads out the door. “I care about you--both of you. And I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

_ “No hay de qué preocuparse _ ,” Honey Lemon says as soon as Elsa’s out of hearing range before turning back to Tadashi and asking eagerly, “So, do you know how you’re going to ask Fred out?”

“I really don’t know--I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Tadashi admits with an embarrassed smile. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Actually…” Honey Lemon answers, grinning slightly, “I just might!” 

 


	3. Chapter 3

“Honey Lemon, this is crazy!” Tadashi hisses.

“No it’s not!” Honey Lemon whispers back. “You look  _ muy guapo _ , you’re a really sweet guy, and you’ve got me as your wingwoman! You can’t fail! Now get out there and steal _ su corazón! _ ”

“I-I still think that this isn’t a good idea--!” Tadashi starts to protest, but just then Honey Lemon shoves him out into the common room of the  _ Big Hero 6 _ cast’s dormitory, which was “conveniently” empty except for the fanboy he was supposed to be finally confessing his feelings to. He was about to try to turn around and make a run for it, but it was too late--Fred had looked up from the comic that he was reading and seen him.

“Oh, hey Dashi!” he says, grinning when he sees the other man.

“U-um.. H-hey Fred…” Tadashi says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 

“Someone’s looking pretty fly,” Fred says with a slight smile, looking the other man over appreciatively--Honey Lemon had snuck into wardrobe and “borrowed” what she considered one of Tadashi’s better outfits, a pair of skinny jeans and a black v-neck. 

“Fly? Really?” Tadashi asks, unable to keep from laughing--somehow Fred always managed to make him smile, no matter what. It was one of the many reasons that Tadashi was pretty sure he was falling in love with him.

“Blame it on the fact that I’m reading a slightly outdated comic,” Fred answers, laughing too. His gaze travels down to the small bouquet of flowers in the other man’s hands (another of Honey Lemon’s ideas--Tadashi didn’t know where exactly she’d gotten them, but he had the feeling that one of the flower bushes on the grounds was a few flowers lighter.) 

“You, uh… You looking for Honey Lemon?” the fanboy asks, a slightly pained look in his expression, even though it was hidden behind a smile. Seeing the longing in Fred’s expression that he himself had been feeling since they’d met was all the motivation that Tadashi needed to actually go through with this crazy plan.

“No, actually,” he says, taking the seat next to the fanboy, laying a gentle hand on his knee. After a momentary jerk of surprise, the other man doesn’t move away, something Tadashi took as a good sign. “I was looking for you, actually.”

“M-me?” Fred asks, a slight blush crossing his cheeks.

“Yeah,” Tadashi agrees softly, finding his heart fluttering at how adorable Fred looked like that. 

“W-what for?” Fred asks, looking up at the other man through his ridiculously thick eyelashes that Tadashi loved so much.

“I… I needed to talk to you about something,” Tadashi answers gently, his hand unintentionally traveling about an inch up Fred’s leg, making the fanboy gulp convulsively. 

“I--Okay, sure,” he agrees, his voice shaking slightly, making Tadashi wonder if he had completely misjudged the situation, but he forces himself to keep soldiering on nonetheless. 

“I… There’s no easy way to say this, but… I like you, Fred,” he says softly. “And I don’t mean like as just a really good friend. I mean, I like you, like you. And I don’t want to make things weird or uncomfortable between us, but I just wanted to let you know how I felt and maybe find out if you felt the same way--”

“Yes.”

“Wait, what?” Tadashi blinks in surprise at the abrupt response, cutting the whole speech that he’d prepared for this moment short.

“Yes!” Fred repeats, grinning at him before wrapping his arms tightly around him .”Oh my gosh, yes!”

“Y-you actually like me back?” Tadashi asks, feeling like he was glowing as he returns the hug.

“Of course I do! How could I not?” Fred answers, beaming up at him. “You’re amazing, and you’re my best friend, and I think I’ve liked you since the first time we actually met, but I didn’t want to say anything because you and Honey Lemon--Wait, oh my gosh Honey Lemon! If she finds out about this, she’s going to kill me and I can’t let you be cheat on her--”

“I can’t cheat on her if we never actually together to begin with,” Tadashi cuts in reassuringly. “We were going through the motions because that’s what we thought we were supposed to be doing, but we both liked someone else and so last night we finally were honest about it and decided to call the whole sham off so that we could both be happy. She’s actually the one who set this whole thing up so I could talk to you in private, without any prying ears.”

“Whoa… So, like, there’s nothing stopping us!” Fred says, grinning. 

“Well… There is something, and I guess I should probably put this out there right now,” Tadashi replies slowly, hating that he had to do this but knowing that Elsa did have a good point. “The directors… They might not be terribly happy that we’re going off-script. So even though it’s okay for us to know that we’re dating, and probably for the rest of the cast to know, this is something that probably needs to stay just among us toons.” Seeing the slightly crushed look on Fred’s face, he hurries on, “I don’t like this any more than you do--the idea of having to keep faking liking Honey Lemon is enough to make me want to just make a run for it right now. But since we can’t do that, I think if we can just keep things on the down low until the movie is released and things die down. Then we’ll be free to do whatever we want!”

Fred seems to be considering this. “I… I guess I could be good with that,” he says slowly. “I just don’t see why the directors would be so mad--it doesn’t really make sense, y’know?”

“I don’t know either,” Tadashi sighs. “But Elsa said that she thought they would be, and you know that she’s been around here for longer than we have, so I’m going to take her word for it. So… If we do have to keep it somewhat a secret, do you think that you’d still be okay with doing this?”

Fred again seems to be concentrating hard before nodding. “If it means being with you? Yeah, I’d do just about anything,” he agrees before saying with a slight smile, “Do we still get to have secret romantic rendezvous?” 

“I’m counting it,” Tadashi says, grinning back at him. 

“We’ll be star crossed lovers--Romeo and Julian!” Fred declares.

“Yes, although hopefully we’ll have a better ending,” Tadashi answers with a slight smile, glad that his boyfriend was okay with this--or, wait, was Fred officially his boyfriend?

As if sensing his thoughts, Fred asks, “So… Just how official are we making this? Like, are we just secret lovers, or…?”

“I’d actually like it if we could be boyfriends, if you’d be okay with that,” Tadashi says tentatively. “I’d like to think there’s more to our relationship than just hooking up.”

“So there will be hooking up involved?” Fred asks, raising an eyebrow.

“I... Um… M-Maybe eventually…?” Tadashi stammers, his cheeks flushing red.

“Aw, you’re so cute when you blush!” Fred says, playfully pecking him on the cheek. “Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow and only go as far as we’re both comfortable with, all right?”

“Sounds good,” Tadashi agrees, giving him a grateful smile.

“And to answer your actual question--yes, I’d love to be your boyfriend,” Fred says, reaching over to gently take Tadashi’s hands in his own.

“O-oh! Great!” Tadashi cries, a bit louder than he’d intended to.

“Maybe we should take this somewhere a bit more private?” Fred suggests quietly as soon as they’re both sure that no one was coming to investigate. 

“Sounds good,” Tadashi agrees, also keeping his voice hushed. 

“My room?” Fred asks with a slight smile.

“I… Um… Maybe?” Tadashi answers, finding his cheeks flushing again.

“Don’t worry,” Fred reassures him, unable to keep from grinning slightly at that, “all I’m suggesting is hanging out and being bros, maybe watch a movie or something--nothing inappropriate.”

“Oh--okay then, sure, let’s do it!” Tadashi agrees, feeling relieved and smiling back at him.

“Epic!” Fred stands up, offering Tadashi his hand. “Shall we?” 

“We shall,” Tadashi agrees, taking the offered hand and trying not to think too much about the almost electric current that flows through his body as he does so. 

They’re just turning out into the corridor and heading back towards Fred’s room, not expecting anyone to be out in the hallway, only to jump back in surprise when they find--

“Holy shit!” Tadashi cries, taking in the scene in front of them in disbelief. “H-Honey Lemon?”   
“Oh, hey guys!” Honey Lemon breaks away from where she had been very evidently making out with GoGo. “So, things went good for you too?”

“Um--yeah, definitely,” Tadashi agrees, trying to decide between being frozen in shock and bursting out laughing. 

“”Eee, this is so exciting!” Honey Lemon cries. “We need to celebrate, guys!” 

“But how?” GoGo asks, still looking slightly embarrassed at having gotten caught in a makeout session, something she tried to cover up with her usual gruff demeanor. “I mean, isn’t it kind of dangerous for us to be seen out in public--y’know, dating the wrong characters?”

Fred and Tadashi exchange a look and silently make an agreement.

“We were talking about heading back to my room and watching a movie--it’s not exactly a romantic dinner or a fancy cafe or anything, but I’m sure we could smuggle some pizza up here from the cafeteria and it would be something,” Fred tells the other two.

“Ooh, that could be fun!” Honey Lemon agrees brightly (Tadashi honestly believed she could get excited over something as simple as taking out the trash--and he actually had seen her do that once, singing and dancing and everything. Maybe she had a bit of Disney Princess in her after all…)

“It’s better than nothing,” GoGo agrees, shrugging slightly but refusing to show too much emotion.

“All right then, let’s do this!” Fred says with a grin.

“What are we doing?” The four jump slightly when they see Anna coming down the hallway with Hiro. The two were still as thick as thieves, running around the studio causing mischief every time one of them wasn’t needed for something elsewhere. It had started out when they’d both managed to be raiding kitchen at the same time late at night in search of sweets, leading to a team-up of epic proportions (Tadashi was pretty sure they still were eating candy from the stash they’d stolen that night) and just gone from there. Tadashi still didn’t fully understand how it had happened, but as long as they were having fun and not getting themselves into too much trouble (he and Elsa both kept a wary eye out for both of their siblings), he wasn’t going to question it.

“Oh, um, n-nothing important!” Tadashi answers, trying but failing to appear nonchalant. 

“Your nothing sure sounds like a something,” Hiro tells him, raising an eyebrow.

“Just a movie night--probably something ridiculously gooey for Tadashi and Honey Lemon,” Fred replies smoothly, and Tadashi marveled at his ability to come up with an explanation like that off the top of his head and make it sound so reasonable. 

“Ew, yech, I don’t want any part in that!” Hiro says, his face wrinkling up into a grimace.

“Oh, c’mon, it could be fun!” Anna protests before turning back to the others. “What are you watching?”

“Uh…” The truth was, most of the cast was so new that they really weren’t familiar with much of this world’s media--even though they’d come with the character memories of having watched a lot of the classic Disney movies, there were still a number that they were trying to catch up on in their spare time so that they’d be familiar with the other characters they were likely to come into contact with. This being the case, the first thing that pops out of Honey Lemon’s mouth is, “ _ Teen Beach Movie _ !” 

“Oh.” Hiro pauses momentarily. “Okay, that actually doesn’t sound so bad. Sure, we’re in!”

“Y-you are?” Tadashi asks, feeling his stomach drop. This was supposed to be his and Fred’s first semi-date, but it was starting to seem like they wouldn’t even be able to get to hand holding with all of the people suddenly joining them who didn’t know the truth about their current relationship status.

“Unless you have a problem with that?” Hiro says, apparently noting the hesitation in his brother’s tone and appearing slightly suspicious again. “It’s not like you have anything to hide--right?”

“No, of course not!” Tadashi answers, trying to force a smile. “Just as long as you don’t mind me and Honey getting a little snuggly…”

“I’ll live,” Hiro deadpans as he heads back out into the hallway, heading for Fred’s room and gesturing for the others to follow him. But was it just Tadashi’s imagination, or under his breath did he say, “I seriously doubt we’ll see any of that happening, though…”?

“Oh, almost forgot!” Hiro says suddenly as they reach Fred’s door. “It isn’t a movie night without gummy bears, is it?”

“No, it’s not!” Tadashi agrees, gladly grabbing onto the opportunity. “And I don’t think Fred has any on hand, does he?”

“Well, I might, I’d have to che--OW!” Fred rubs his arm where his new boyfriend had just elbowed him. “What did you do that--Oh. Oh!” His eyes go wide with understanding. “Um, no, you’re totally right, Dashi, I’m completely out right now!”

“So if you wanted to run back to our room and grab some…” Tadashi says, giving Hiro his most innocent smile.

“On it!” Hiro agrees. Somehow it seemed like the entire exchange had gone over his head, or at least he didn’t seem like he’d noticed anything as he grabs Anna’s hand and says, “C’mon, let’s go get them, okay!”

“Okay!” Anna agrees with a grin, not seeming to mind being dragged along.

The second that they’re gone, the other four make a dash for the door. If they had thought that they had an entire night for snuggling and other light forms of romance to lead up to anything more, they would have taken their time. As it appeared that they only had minutes, however, in the heat of the moment, things kind of got a little hectic, and Tadashi found himself against the wall with Fred pressing what was probably the most amazing--albeit,admittedly the only--kiss that he’d ever had to his mouth. At first he was so stunned that he just froze, but after a moment he melted into it and was just about to start kissing him back when suddenly--

“Ah HA! I knew it!”

Fred instinctively jerks away from Tadashi as they all turn to the doorway where they found--

“H-Hiro!” Tadashi gasps, feeling panic filling his chest. “I-I can explain--!”

“Explain why Fred was totally macking on you? No, yeah, I think that’s pretty self explanatory,” Hiro says with a slight smirk. 

“Ooh, I knew it!” Anna squeals, happily poking her head in the door. “I knew something was going on with these guys!”

“Great teamwork, Agent Arendelle,” Hiro says, turning to her and offering her his fist. “We officially caught them in the act!”

“Same to you, Agent Megabot!” Anna replies, enthusiastically returning the first bump.

“Wait--you  _ knew _ ?!” Tadashi cries.

“It wasn’t hard to figure it out, bro,” Hiro says with a knowing smile. “You totally weren’t feeling it with HL, that much was obvious, and then Fred arrives and you’re following him around like a little lost puppy? You practically had little hearts over your head from the moment you saw him. You call yourself a toon? You seriously need to work on your acting skills!”

“So you’re not… mad or weirded out by this?” Tadashi says slowly, wanting to make sure.

“Well, a little mad that you didn’t tell me that this was going on and maybe a little bit weirded out to find out that you’re actually into guys,” Hiro admits. “But, y’know, I can totally be bought off with a couple of bags of gummy bears.”

“Done,” Tadashi agrees with a relieved grin. 

“All right then--that’s out of the way, so let’s get this movie night started, huh?” Hiro says, plopping down on the end of the bed. “Oh, but ground rules--no making out while there are minors in the room, ‘kay? I don’t care what you do behind closed doors, but not while I’m here!”

“Or me!” Anna puts in. “I mean, not that I’d mind that much, but Elsa might freeze you all into eternity if she knew that you guys did anything she deemed ‘inappropriate’ in front of her ‘baby sister’.”

“Understood!” Fred agrees before turning back to smile at Tadashi. “Well, looks like that just got a lot easier!”

“It did,” Tadashi agrees. “Only--Hiro, Anna, I hate to ask this of you, but the directors might not be too happy if they found out that four of us were going totally off script, so at least for now if you could keep this under wraps--”

“Way ahead of you,” Hiro agrees, looking up from where he’d been tearing open a package of gummy bears, his expression more serious this time. “Trust me, I don’t want my nii-chan getting in any trouble, and I definitely don’t want them pulling a redesign on you--I like you exactly the way you are, thanks.”

Tadashi winces at the mention of the strongest punishment a toon who chose not to follow their character role could receive outside of total erasure (the equivalent of the death penalty, which was only reserved for the most serious cases.) It was one thing for a villain not to be plotting world domination on their off time or a usually comic character to be slightly more on the serious side than most would expect, but to fully break with a role, at least in a way that a studio deemed damaging either to the character’s or the studio’s image could result in a character literally being taken back to the drawing board, their entire memory and even existence in the real world wiped clean like a slate, the character being reinvented until they behaved the way that the studio wanted. The elder Hamada hadn’t even officially thought of that as a possible consequence of his being with Fred instead of Honey Lemon, but now it hung over them like a dark cloud.

“Oh, c’mon, guys!” Honey Lemon finally says, trying to break the dismal mood. “This is Disney--they treat their characters right, they’d never do anything like that!” 

“Right,” GoGo agrees, not sounding fully convinced.

“As long as we don’t do anything to openly announce our relationship statuses or that they’d deem ‘threatening’ to their image, we should be okay,” Tadashi tells them with more confidence than he actually felt. “If we’re careful, we can make this work.”

He would make it work. He had to.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“Fred, I can’t do this!” 

“Tadashi, yes, you can.”

“No, I can’t!”

“Sweetheart, it’s just one kiss--and it doesn’t even have to be on the lips, it can be on the cheek!”

“But a kiss is a kiss, and I can’t kiss someone when I’m in love with someone else!”

“It’s just acting--actors kiss people that they’re not in love with all the time, don’t they?”

“I--I guess so...:”

“And if you’re worried that I’ll be upset or something, I won’t--I’m giving you full and complete permission to kiss Honey Lemon as many times as you need to for the sake of making the movie!”

“That doesn’t make me feel completely better…”

“Think of it this way, then--the sooner you get the kiss scenes with Honey Lemon over, the sooner we can finish making the movie, and the sooner we finish making this movie, the sooner we’ll be free of this whole mess and we can enjoy having our freedom!”

“That does sound nice…” Tadashi admits with a tentative smile.

“See?” Fred smiles and gently squeezes his hand. “Now you get out there and do this scene, okay?”

“Okay,” Tadashi agrees, feeling full of determination now. Still, before heading out onto the set, he quickly kisses Fred’s cheek one last time. “When I’m having to kiss her, know that you’re the only one I’ll be thinking of,” he whispers softly.

“Thank you.” Fred smiles and gently pecks him back before adding playfully, “Just don’t think about me too hard or else you might end up accidentally kissing her a little too good!”

“Understood!” Tadashi laughs before finally walking out into the Nerd Lab set.

“There you are!” the director says, looking relieved when he spots Tadashi. “We were wondering where you’d gotten off to! Is everything okay?” 

“Oh, yeah!” Tadashi answers, forcing the best smile that he can manage onto his face. “Sorry, I just… Was getting prepared for the scene!”

“Of course.” The director chuckles at that. “Pretty excited to be kissing your girlfriend in front of the camera, huh? Just remember that this is a kids movie so try to keep it from getting too hot and heavy, okay?”

“Okay…” Tadashi agrees, trying not to grimace--ugh, the longer he dated Fred, the more he knew that he never wanted to kiss a girl. Ever. Or anyone outside of Fred, for that matter, but that was kind of a given. 

“All right, places, everyone!” the director calls and everyone starts moving into position. 

The scene involved Tadashi introducing Hiro to all of the characters in the Nerd Lab and so the first part was pretty fun--in fact, he was able to lose himself in the scene and forget what was supposed to happen until Honey Lemon came racing past with her giant ball of tungsten carbide. He braces himself, knowing what was going to happen--Honey Lemon calling out a greeting to him and then, before she “noticed” Hiro, they were supposed to kiss. They’d already discussed this--Honey Lemon didn’t seem to mind the kiss since they knew that they were just friends, and had even offered to practice with him before the scene (something he’d politely declined, partly because he didn’t want to have to do it more than was strictly speaking necessary and partly because he could tell from the way that GoGo was looking at him that she would have snapped his neck if he had agreed. Not that it would have killed him--toons couldn’t really “die”--but it would have hurt like hell.) Now the moment was here, though, and he found himself freezing, barely managing to squeak out a “hello” to her. Honey Lemon lodged her ball into place and then came around to the other side, grinning expectantly at him--the perfect little actress that she was, she was managing to look happy about this! Tadashi hesitated one more moment, hoping that some Deus Ex Machina might save him, but the film crew and director were all staring expectantly at him, so he gritted his teeth and leaned in, closing his eyes and trying to imagine Fred. before chastely pecking Honey Lemon’s lips before quickly pulling away. Okay, he’d done it! He felt his shoulders sag with relief. That was over so now it should be smooth sailing--

“CUT!”

He feels his body go rigid as the director’s voice rings out across the set. What was the matter now?   
“What was that?” the director cries as he comes over to them. “Tadashi, I told you to keep it PG, but you can show at least a little passion! You were acting like you didn’t want to kiss her at all!” 

“I don’t want to kiss her!” The words slip out before Tadashi can stop them.

“Don’t want to kiss her? You’re kidding me, right?” The director looks at him like he’s expecting the punchline to a joke.

Across the set, he can see Fred staring him, shaking his head vigorously “no”. Hiro, GoGo, and Honey Lemon were watching him anxiously, all seeming to be holding their breath. Tadashi knew that it would be easier to just keep his mouth shut, redo the scene with a proper kiss, and move on with no one the wiser. But if there was one part of his character design that had actually stuck with him, it was that he couldn’t keep silent about something he thought was wrong, and he was willing to sacrifice everything to do the right thing, whether it was running into a burning building to save his professor or speaking his mind when someone was trying to get him to do something he thought was wrong with everything fiber of his being.

“I don’t want to kiss Honey Lemon because I don’t love her!”

There was dead silence on the set for a full minute before the director lets out an uncomfortable chuckle. “You’re joking, right? Tell me this is a joke. Of course you love Honey Lemon--it’s in your design! That’s the way we made you!”

“I know that’s how my character was designed, and I swear that I tried to love her, but I just can’t!” Tadashi answers. “I can’t force something that I don’t feel!”

“Maybe if you gave it more time--” the director starts to say.

“I gave it time, and it didn’t work! And I know I can never love her because… I’m in love with someone else!”

There was another dead silence, and Tadashi could see Fred looking a combination of very afraid and also extremely proud of him.

“In love with… Someone else?” the director finally manages to say, frowning deeply. “Well… All right, this happens sometimes. I know that not all of the writers were fully on board with you having a romance with Honey Lemon, so maybe some of that made it through into your character. This could put us a bit behind schedule, but I suppose we could rewrite you scenes so that we can work with you and GoGo--”

“What?” Tadashi’s eyes go wide. “No, I’m not in love with GoGo!”

“Then who else could you be in love with? There aren’t any other available girl characters in this movie except Abigail--Oh, now that could be an interesting plot twist, we can work with this…”

“NO!” Tadashi groans in frustration. “I’m not in love with any of them, I’m in love with Fred!”

There’s yet another extended silence as the entire crew seem to be looking between Tadashi and Fred in complete and utter shock. 

“Tadashi,” the director finally says, his tone patronizing with just a hint of something darker behind it, “I think you’re confused. I can see why you might be interested in one of the other female members of your cast, but Fred… Disney doesn’t create gay characters. Maybe someday, but right now you must understand that our audiences aren’t ready for that sort of thing--”

“Well maybe it’s time Disney took a stand instead of worrying about what the audiences thought!” Tadashi fires back. “Does the company really want to be held back by fear when they could be leading the way to bringing more acceptance for a persecuted community and providing positive role models for those who need them?”

“I have nothing against the gay community personally, and I appreciate your sentiments, but this is something we cannot allow at this time,” the director answers, frowning to the point of almost scowling. “It’s a risk that we cannot take, and you would do well to remember that it is the humans, not the toons who make these decisions. And there are consequences for toons who don’t remember their places and try to go too far off book.”

Tadashi flinches at the subtle threat, but he’s not about to back down now. “I’m not asking for you to allow me and Fred to kiss on screen or in any way to even appear like a couple!” he says. “All I’m asking is that you don’t force me to act like I’m in love with someone I’m not on screen!”

“He has a good point,” a woman near the director’s chair who Tadashi thought he recognized as one of the artists says thoughtfully. 

“If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it!” the director snaps, glaring over at her. 

“No, just listen!” the woman answers, coming over. “You said it yourself--not everyone was on board with the Tadashi/Honey Lemon romance. So how about this--we play all of the relationships off platonically. That way the audience can choose their couples, if they choose to pair any of the couples at all! This movie isn’t primarily about a romance like a lot of our other films--it’s about family and coping with loss. If anything, putting a romance in might distract from the story we’re trying to get across!”.

The director, though obviously still angry about having his authority questioned, seems to be considering the woman’s words. “You may have a point,” he finally agrees begrudgingly, letting out a quiet sigh. “All right, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to talk to the story writers and see what the have to say. If they agree to this--and that is a  _ big  _ ‘if’--then we’ll drop the romance angle and focus on the sibling relationships that this story is mainly focused on.”

“Thank you!” Tadashi cries, feeling relief flood his chest. “You have no idea how much this--”

“I said ‘IF’,” the director snarls, turning back to him. “If they don’t agree, we continue with the storyline involving your romance with Honey Lemon, or whoever else they decide to pair you with, capiche?” 

“Y-Yes sir,” Tadashi agrees more quietly, deciding not to push his luck.

“And I don’t care what you do whenever you’re back in your little Toon Town-Looney Toon… community, but while you are in the public eye, you are not allowed to give ANY indication that you are in a homosexual relationship, is that understood?” the director continues. 

“That’s...Fair enough,” Tadashi says with a nod. He didn’t like it, but the way that all the others were looking at him was enough to make him realize that this was a battle he would have to fight another day. 

“Because if you do and it hurts the company in any way, we will not hesitate to redesign you to make you more… compliant,” the director finishes in a low hiss. 

Tadashi can’t help but feel a tiny spark of fear at that--as much as he knew that was a possibility, it was hard to imagine someone who worked for Disney actually threatening one of their characters! Still, he swallows hard and nods to show that he understands.

“Good.” The director moves away from him and says in a voice so that everyone can hear him, “All right everyone, that’s a wrap for today. We’ll pick up again tomorrow once I’ve spoken to the writers.” 

He walks away towards the door leading out of studio they’d been filming in, and Tadashi feels his whole body sag with relief. He doesn’t have much time to relax, though, as he hears Fred calling his name and, moments later, his boyfriend is wrapping his arms tightly around him and pulling him into a deep kiss.

“Oh my gosh, I was so scared for a second there that they… That they were going to take you away from me,” the fanboy breathes when they finally break apart for air. “But I am so,  _ so  _ proud of you… I can’t believe that they’re actually--!”

“I know!” Tadashi laughs, happily pecking him on the lips. “But they are, and I think we’re going to be okay from here on out!”

“Way to stick it to ‘em!” Hiro laughs, grinning up at his older brother. “I didn’t know you had it in you, but you proved me wrong!”

“Dashi, this is wonderful!” Honey Lemon agrees, pecking Tadashi (platonically, of course) on the cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t know what I could do to help--”

“It’s okay,” Tadashi reassures her. “It was my battle to fight, and I’m just glad that it turned out as well as it did.”

“I still think it’s totally fucked up that they won’t let you two be together publically…” Hiro huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hiro, language!” Tadashi automatically corrects him before adding, “I know it’s messed up, but this is a pretty big step, all things considered!”

“It is,” a voice suddenly says, and they turn to see the woman from earlier standing near them.

“Oh, um, thank you?” Tadashi answers uncertainly before remembering his manners and adding, “Thank you for sticking up for us back there. Without your help…”

“I was more than happy to do it!” the woman replies with a smile before scowling and adding, “I think the way they treat toons is completely atrocious--acting like you’re not real people and threatening redesigns the moment a toon tries to express themselves in a way that doesn’t fit with what the writers ‘chose’ for them… It’s disgusting! If I had my way, redesigns would be completely illegal!” 

“Wow, um… I’m glad to know that there’s a human who feels that way,” Tadashi says, blinking in surprise. 

“Of course!” the girl nods. “I didn’t become an artist so I could create pawns I could bend to my will--I wanted to see what sorts of unique characters I might be able to help create, and I wanted them to have the freedom to be themselves! I think half the fun is when a character surprises you with something new, even if it wasn’t what you’d originally planned! Sadly, a lot of people have seemed to have forgotten that, if they ever believed it at all to being with…”

“So you are an artist?” Tadashi asks, his suspicions from earlier being confirmed.

“Yep!” the girl smiles back at him, seeming more cheerful than she had been after her rant. “The name’s Christy. I worked on a lot of the characters for this movie--and, I’m not going to lie, I was never a big fan of pairing any of you guys up, but you and Fred? That’s pretty cute, actually!”

“Well, we do make a really good couple!” Fred says playfully, leaning over to peck Tadashi on the cheek. 

“See? Stuff like that is what I’m talking about!” Christy chuckles before reaching for her pocket as her phone starts going off. “Oh, looks like I have to go--our  _ wonderful _ director has called an all staff meeting,” she adds sarcastically, rolling her eyes before pulling out a sheet of paper and scribbling something down on it. “Here.” She presses it into Tadashi’s hands. “This is my cell number. If you need anything--and I mean  _ anything _ \--just call me and I’ll see what I can do, okay?”

“T-Thank you!” Tadashi was slightly surprised but couldn’t help but feel grateful all the same.

“You’d be surprised--I think you might have a lot more friends on the crew than you might realize,” Christy tells him with a warm smile. “I’ll start spreading the word, see what I can do. You guys deserve as much support as you can get!” She waves and then heads off towards the door.

“Okay, that? That was kind of awesome!” Hiro says with a grin, breaking the stunned silence that followed her departure.

“Yeah it was!” Fred agrees with a grin before turning to Tadashi. “Hey, why so serious?” he asks playfully. “This deserves a celebration!”

“Yes, we totally need to have a party!” Honey Lemon cries eagerly. 

“Well, I think before we do that maybe Fred and I kind of need to come out to the rest of the cast--make sure everyone’s okay with it before having a whole party about it,” Tadashi says slowly.

“Do you really care if anyone doesn’t approve after you just stood up to the director?” Fred asks in disbelief.

“Not really, no, but if the fact that Wasabi seriously hasn’t moved during this whole thing makes me think that it’s going to take a little bit for the shock to wear off for some of them,” Tadashi answers, smirking slightly as he glances over at his cast mate who, indeed, still seemed to be frozen with disbelief by everything that had just gone down. 

“All right, fine, we’ll do it your way…” Fred sighs, rolling his eyes playfully to show that he really didn’t mind too much and was too happy to really care how his boyfriend wanted to do things considering everything that had just happened.

“Good!” Tadashi smiles and pecks his cheek before starting to lead him towards the door so that they could head back to their dormitory and start telling the others (Aunt Cass would probably be ridiculously happy just knowing that he was dating someone he loved, and he couldn’t really see any of the others really minding--hopefully they might even be supportive!) Considering how badly things could have gone, he was just grateful that he was walking out of here, still able to freely love Fred. After all, that was the biggest victory he could have asked for.


	5. Chapter 5

The next few months just flew by. So much happened that it was hard to keep track of it all, and Tadashi had to learn to just focus on the task at hand or risk getting overwhelmed by everything that was going on. The first major event was the writers all agreeing to change the script so that all of the relationships were strictly platonic. From what he heard later, it sounded to Tadashi like the director hadn’t actually explained the reason for the change, just chalking it up to “wanting to remove unnecessary distractions from the story”, and while it still burned that Disney didn’t have the guts to be up front about addressing lgbtqa relationships, it was a major step in the right direction and so he wasn’t going to complain about it and risk getting anyone in even more trouble than they already were. As soon as the script changes were in place, the filming of the movie continued at full speed, the director saying that they “didn’t want to waste any more valuable time”. Tadashi almost became glad that his character died early on in the movie so that he had less scenes to have to worry about--the way that the director was treating him so passive aggressively was a major turn off to wanting to be on set, which was majorly messed up considering this was probably going to be the only movie he was ever in and filming it was supposed to be the most amazing time of his life. But there wasn’t much he could do about it, and being with Fred was worth all the snarky comments and general rudeness that he had to deal with. 

Then something amazing happened that took some of the heat off of Tadashi, at least for a little while-- _ Frozen _ was released. Tadashi and a lot of the  _ Big Hero 6 _ cast had been there on the night of the premier to send Elsa and Anna off, wishing them all the best. The premier apparently was a smash hit, and then when the movie was finally released to the general public, it absolutely exploded. The elder Hamada was so happy for his friends and extremely proud of them--having a hit movie was pretty much one of the biggest dreams that could come true for a toon, and their success was beyond belief. Within the first month, there was already talk of a sequel, maybe an ice show--things were looking very bright for the sisters. The unfortunate side effect of all this attention was that they were hardly ever at the studio between interviews and guest appearances. Then, shortly after the movie was released, the sisters were moved to temporary housing at the local Disney Park so they could start having meet and greets with fans. It was hard for Tadashi to say goodbye to someone who had become one of his closest friends, but he managed to catch Elsa on the morning she and Anna were scheduled to leave before she actually left. 

“Tadashi!” The snow queen smiles when she sees her friend racing towards the limo she was just getting ready to climb into. “What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be out here!”

“I had to say goodbye!” he answers, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. “Hiro got to say goodbye to Anna last night, but I didn’t get to see you and that didn’t seem fair!”

“I’m sorry, they were having me film a promotional last night,” Elsa sighs before hugging him back. “I’m going to miss you…” she admits. 

“I’m going to miss you too,” Tadashi answers. “But hey, think of it this way--hopefully in about a year everything will have calmed down for both of us and we’ll both be living in Toon Town and we can hang out whenever we want!”

“Right.” Elsa offers him a slightly watery smile--the truth was, with the way  _ Frozen _ seemed to be only growing in popularity and  _ Big Hero 6 _ was being predicted to be a major hit as well, they didn’t know how long it would be before they actually saw each other again, and since Disney was somewhat strict about communication between characters from different story worlds when their films were still fairly fresh in the public eye, it might even be a long time before they even got to talk to each other.

“I am so, so proud of you,” Elsa whispers fiercely as the limo driver who was holding the door for her starts clearing his throat impatiently. “You are an amazing person, Tadashi Hamada, and don’t you let anyone ever change you, no matter how much they try.”

“I won’t,” Tadashi promises. “Take care of yourself and your sister out there, okay?”

“I will,” Elsa reassures him, finally letting him go, squeezing his hands one last time before climbing into the limo. Moments later, she was gone, the limo speeding off down the road, and Tadashi could only hope the best for her. 

 

Once the filming for  _ Big Hero 6 _ was over, the cast had a bit of time to relax while the film went into editing and final production, but they didn’t have much. Almost as soon as filming was over, the big marketing campaign for the movie began and so the characters were expected to start filming promotional ads and media spots to help get the movie out into the public eye and begin building excitement for it. Honestly, Tadashi found the endless string of interviews for newspapers and blogs, and, of course, all the talk show appearances a major bore, if not a nuisance, especially the way that the interviewers always seemed to come around to the point of trying to get the characters to “spill” who was romantically involved with each other. Tadashi was actually somewhat glad that he was able to just give the studio approved answer that they were all just really good friends and none of them were planning on starting romances any time soon. It wasn’t the truth, but, the way those hosts acted, he was glad that he and Fred weren’t under that microscope--he’d hate to think the sort of strain it would put on their relationship if the media was tracking their every move. As it was, he was content to, at the end of the day, just be able to enjoy spending time with his boyfriend in private. Being with Fred was all he’d ever wanted, and he could only hope that, someday soon, they’d be safely settled in a toon community where they could freely live their lives as a couple--where they wouldn’t have to hide the fact that they were in love or look over their shoulders to make sure that no one was watching before they could hold hands or kiss. It was the dream of this sort of freedom that kept Tadashi going through all of the craziness, and he knew that Fred felt the exact same way. 

Then, as suddenly as the seemingly endless stream of interviews and promotionals began, they were over and it was the night of the movie premier. Tadashi honestly didn’t think that he’d need more than an hour, tops, to prepare--just take a shower and put on his suit. But Disney, being the perfectionists that they were, had other ideas. Way too early in the day for Tadashi’s liking, he and the others were whisked away to be taken to wardrobe, hair, and, yes, makeup, even for the guys. When the professionals were done, he had to admit that he looked pretty good, but he didn’t know if it had all been that necessary considering he didn’t look that much different than he usually did. Still, as the others began to arrive in the waiting area they were all in until the limo came to pick him up, he could appreciate the work that had gone into preparing them for tonight. Honey Lemon in her golden cocktail dress and GoGo and Aunt Cass in simpler, shorter numbers (black and purple for GoGo and a soft plum for AUnt Cass) all looked elegant, and he couldn’t help but smile at how adorable Hiro looked in his suit (the poor teen looked slightly uncomfortable in the dress clothes, but that only seemed to add to the cuteness.) When Fred walked in, though, Tadashi felt as if his breath had been taken away--he’d never seen his boyfriend in anything but his usual cargo shorts and t-shirt, but he looked absolutely stunning in a simple black suit and bow tie. 

“You look great!” he breathes as he head over to greet the other man. 

“And you look very handsome,” Fred answers, grinning as he wraps his arms around his waist. 

“Not as handsome as you!”

“Are you kidding me? You’re, like, ten times better looking as I am!”

“Boys, boys, you’re both pretty,” Hiro sighs, rolling his eyes. “Now can we stop the mutual appreciation fest before I hurl?”

“Hiro,” Aunt Cass says warningly, although she smiles over at Fred and Tadashi--like her eldest nephew had suspected, she had been extremely supportive (almost surprisingly so) of their relationship, saying that as long as Tadashi was happy then she was happy for both of them. Callaghan had seemed a bit surprised by it all, but he had been at least accepting of the fact that his adopted son figure was gay even if he had been a bit shocked by iit. Overall the entire cast seemed to be happy for them, which was amazing. Tadashi just wished that the rest of the world felt the same way.

About an hour later, after being loaded into a stretch limo that was surprisingly big enough for all of them, they were all pulling up outside the theater where the premier and after party would take place. 

“You guys ready for this?” Tadashi asks, glancing around at the others.

“Yeah!” Hiro agrees with an eager fist pump. “Let’s do this!”

As they were the “stars” of the film, Hiro and Baymax were the first to walk down the red carpet, followed by Tadashi, Honey Lemon, and the rest of the Big Hero 6 team, then Aunt Cass and the rest of the cast. It was frankly one of the most amazing moments of Tadashi’s life--the theater looked fantastic, decorated to look like something out of San Fransokyo, and while he wasn’t vain in the slightest, it was still really cool seeing pictures of himself and his friends all over the place and having reporters and paparazzi all wanting to take their pictures and ask for quotes. It was almost like something out of a dream. The only thing that would have made it better was being able to share it openly with Fred, but since he couldn’t he decides to just enjoy it as much as he could, knowing that this was bringing them one step closer to their freedom. As it was, once they were inside the actual theater and had been escorted to their seats, he couldn’t help but smile when Fred took the seat next to him on the other side of Hiro. Even better, when the lights went down, his boyfriend surreptitiously slips his hand into his, and the two stay like that until the end of the credits and the lights came back on. Any sadness they felt from having to separate was quickly forgotten as the after party starts.The movie seemed to have been a hit with the entire audience, and people kept coming up to congratulate them on a job well done. Opening weekend at the box office would show just how much well the movie actually would do, but tonight’s success seemed to bode well for them. 

Despite all the attention directed to the main cast, they all managed to relax and have fun as well, hanging out with each other and even meeting some of Disney’s newest stars. While they were all sad that Elsa and Anna hadn’t been able to make it back for the premiere (although they had managed to send the group a video wishing them good luck), there were a lot of other characters who had shown up from the Disney Channel studios, including the live action stars from show like  _ Austin and Ally  _ and from some of the toon centered shows, like the one that had just premiered called  _ Star Wars Rebels _ . In fact, upon meeting, Hiro and the star of  _ Rebels _ , Ezra Bridger, had immediately hit it off, their slightly snarky but family-centered and adventurous personalities seeming to mesh perfectly. Tadashi couldn’t help but wonder if this might be the start of a really good friendship for them--although if the way Ezra kept sneaking looks at Hiro when he thought no one was looking and kept blushing over the smallest things made Tadashi wonder if there might be something a little more going on there, at least on Ezra’s end. It might be a rough road to follow, but if they ever chose to pursue it then he would definitely be there to support them, no matter what Disney might have to say about it.

It wasn’t until pretty late in the night when Fred pulled Tadashi off into a secluded area for some alone time.

“Hey,” he says softly.

“Hey,” Tadashi answers, grinning as he wraps his arms around his waist. 

“So, tonight has been pretty amazing!” Fred says, happily doing the same. 

“It has,” Tadashi agrees softly. 

“But you know what would make it perfect?”

“What?” Tadashi asks softly. 

“Getting to kiss my gorgeous boyfriend.”

“Well then, consider tonight ‘perfect’,” Tadashi answers, gently leaning in to press his lips against Fred’s, the fanboy moaning softly as he does so. 

Maybe if they hadn’t been so distracted, they might have heard the reporters and paparazzi who had seen their sudden leaving as slightly suspicious following them in. But unfortunately it wasn’t until the first camera flash went off that the two realized just how much trouble they were in. The instant they guiltily jump away from each other, the reporters converge on them, shoving microphones in their faces as the camerapersons start snapping pictures of their startled expressions.

“Tadashi, were you and Fred just kissing?”

“Are you two romantically involved?”

“Are you gay?”

“Does Disney actually design two of their characters as homosexual?”

“Is Disney openly supporting gay relationships now?” 

Tadashi felt his heart hammering in his chest, unable to answer any of the questions. No, this couldn’t be happening! They’d worked so hard, been so careful! Now all of it was coming crashing down, and if the director found out--

As if summoned by Tadashi’s darkest fears, although actually brought over by the sudden commotion, the director appears, forcing his way through the crowds with a dark scowl on his face.

“Tadashi, run!” Fred cries, starting to push his boyfriend down the hallway. But Tadashi was too stunned to do move, and within moments the director was grabbing him by the wrist, forming a vice like grip on his arm.

“I’m sorry, but we will not be answering any questions at this time!” he says, flashing the reporters a phony smile. “I assure you, though, this little misunderstanding will be cleared up before you need to submit anything to your publishers in the morning!” Then, under his breath his snarls to Tadashi, “We had an agreement! You made a promise, and now you’ve broken it and the blame for this is not going to fall on me! You are getting a redesign  _ tonight _ so you will never be able to put this company’s reputation on the line again!”

Tadashi lets out a tiny whimper of fear--no, they were going to take everyone and everything he loved away from him! This couldn’t be happening! He tried to pull away, but the director’s grip was too strong, and he could already see him signaling to security--as soon as they had him, it would be too late. He’d never be able to fight all of them off!

“Fred, I love you,” he calls desperately to his boyfriend, who was separated from him by the crowd of reporters still pressing around them. “No matter what happens, I will always love you!”

“Not for long, you won’t,” the director quietly sneers as the security guards take Tadashi from him.

“No, you can’t do this!” Tadashi cries as the burly men start to drag him away. “Please, somebody--anybody, help!” 

But no one made a move to help him--of course they wouldn’t, he was a toon, why would they value his life or think that he deserved any less than this for going against his design? Just when all hope seemed lost, however, suddenly a powerful, somehow familiar voice booms over the crowd. “What’s going on here?” 

Everyone turns to face the speaker, and the director gasps quietly, his eyes going wide as he stammers, “M-Mr. Mouse!”

Tadashi can’t help but feel awed in spite of his current predicament--Mickey Mouse! It was Mickey Mouse, one of the oldest and most powerful toons in existence! He was nothing short of a legend, and Tadashi would have bowed in reverence if he wasn’t being held by the two security guards.

“What is going on here?” Mickey asks again, frowning as he walks over. “Why is this toon being held by security guards?”

“S-Sir, I can explain--!” the director stammers, but Fred’s voice cuts in, shouting from over the reporters,

“He’s trying to have Tadashi taken away and redesigned ‘cause we’re in love and he thinks it’s dangerous for Disney to have two gay characters!”

Mickey’s frown deepens, but instead of turning to the director again, he looks over at Tadashi. “Is this true?” he asks.

“Y-Yes,” Tadashi agrees, almost feeling like a scared child in the presence of this great figure but forcing himself to stay strong nonetheless. “I--I’m in love with Fred. I have been since the moment we met. I know I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him, but I did, and I can’t change that! And I know that maybe that’s dangerous to Disney’s ‘image’ because some people might not approve of it, but isn’t Disney all about finding true love? Fred is my true love, and you guys can redesign me as many times as you want, but I will always find a way back to Fred because true love always wins!” 

There’s a full minute of silence as Mickey seems to be silently contemplating his next words, everyone seeming to be holding their breaths as they wait to see what the outcome will be. And then the mouse suddenly smiles gently and says, “Tadashi, it’s very brave of you to fight so hard for your love when everyone has seemed to be against it, and I’m so sorry that you’ve felt like you’ve had to keep it a secret this long. But I’m going to set the record straight once and for all.” He turns to the reporters, who were all eagerly scribbling down notes or recording the exchange. “Here at Disney, we believe in love--it doesn’t matter if that love is romantic, between friends, or the love that a family shares. And we certainly do not discriminate against certain types of love because they aren’t ‘acceptable’ to some people. Love is love, and I don’t believe my creator would have stood for this type of behavior any more than I can.” The mouse walks over to the security guards and pulls Tadashi away from them, the guards instantly releasing the toon, obviously not wanting to fight with the legendary figure. Then he waves to Fred, who eagerly makes his way over, the crowd parting like the Red Sea to let him through.

“Fred, Tadashi,” Mickey says softly once they’re both standing in front of him, joining their hands together. “You have something very special, and it’s something that should be celebrated, not discriminated against. So I’m promising, from this day forward, that I will do everything in my power to make sure you can live out your life of love together in peace. You both are officially under my protection, as are any other couples who love each other, even if they don’t ‘fit their designs’. And I will make sure that anyone who tries to harm them in any way or prevent them from being together will reap the consequences.” He gives the director, who by now was trying to slink away, a pointed look, before turning back to the crowd of reporters and saying, “That is all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe these two gentlemen have a party to return to.”

This time when the reporters start to press in on them again, the security guards hold them back, and Tadashi and Fred allow themselves to be numbly escorted back to the main party by Mickey, unable to fully believe what had just happened. 

“T-Thank you,” Tadashi finally manages to get out, turning to look at Mickey. “Everything you said back there… I can’t even begin to--”

“It’s quite all right.” Mickey gives him a warm smile before shaking his head slightly. “To think that someone working for my father’s company would try to stop two toons from being in love just because it didn’t fit their script… I can’t even begin to imagine how we’ve let something like this go on for so long without doing anything about it. Please believe me when I tell you that I will personally be taking measures to make sure that this sort of thing never happens again.” 

“Epic!” Fred gives him an eager grin. “No one deserves to be told who they can and can’t love!” 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Mickey chuckles. 

“I am sorry if we’ve caused you any trouble,” Tadashi adds more quietly, knowing that tonight’s events were probably going to set off a whole chain reaction once they reached the media.

“My father was never afraid to be the one to push the boundaries,” Mickey answers firmly. “I think maybe this is exactly what this company needs to help make us reconsider what it is that we stand for, to maybe finally take some bold steps that we’ve been afraid to take until now. So, in a way, I probably should be thanking you two.”

“You’re welcome!” Fred answers with a laugh, even as Tadashi ducks his head slightly in embarrassment. 

“I’ll let you two get back to the party now,” Mickey says with a kind smile. “It is your night, after all--but if you ever need anything, please, don’t be afraid to contact me.” He pulls a small card out of his pocket and slips it into Tadashi’s hand. 

“T-Thank you!” Tadashi breathes, staring down at the card, unable to believe that Mickey Mouse had just given him his private number and told him that he could call him for help if he ever needed it!

“Of course!” Mickey waves to him before walking away and disappearing into the crowds.

“O-oh my gosh… Did that really just happen?” Tadashi breathes, staring up at Fred in disbelief. 

“I think it did!” Fred agrees with a grin. “What do you know--it looks like you just started a revolution!”

“I didn’t mean to start a revolution,” Tadashi mumbles, resting his head on his boyfriend’s chest as he still tries to take it all in. “I just wanted to be able to love you without anyone trying to hurt us because of it…”

“Sometimes when you try to make a small change, you end up having to create a big changes,” Fred answers soothingly. “But the important thing is that you accomplished your goal, right? Now we can be together without having to worry about anyone trying to redesign us or do anything else to us, ‘cause if they do they’d have to answer to the Mouse and no one would want to do that!”

“True,” Tadashi agrees with a slight smile. 

“So, what do you want to do first with our newfound freedom?” Fred asks with a grin. 

“Well, I think tomorrow we need to go out on an actual date, even if it’s only to the studio coffee shop,” Tadashi answers, gently squeezing his boyfriend’s hands. “But for tonight, I can think of one thing I’ve been wanting to do in public for a very long time.”

“Which is?” Fred asks, quirking a playful eyebrow.

“This.” Tadashi leans in and presses his mouth against Fred’s, pulling him close and not caring how many people might be staring--he was in love with Fred, and he couldn’t wait to let the whole world know.

“Was that as good as you hoped for?” Fred asks with a dazed smile when they finally break apart for air.

“No,” Tadashi answers before pulling his boyfriend back in for another kiss. “It was better.”


End file.
